"The Baron?"
"I searched for him everywhere, and couldn't find him. God kept him out of my way to save me from sin and shame."
With a frightened cry she put down the revolver and clasped her hands about his neck. He began to recover his dazed senses and to smooth the hair on her damp forehead.
"My poor Roma! You didn't think we were to part like this?"
Her arms slackened, and she dropped her head on to his shoulder.
"Last night you told me to fly, and I wouldn't do so. There was no man in Rome I was afraid of then. But to-night there is some one I am afraid of. I am afraid of myself."
"You intend to go?"
"Yes! I shall feel like a captain who deserts his sinking ship. Would to God I could have gone down with her!... Yet no! She is not lost yet. Everything is in God's hands. Perhaps there is work for me abroad, now that the paths are closed to me at home. Let us wait and see."
They were both silent for a while.
"Then it's all over," she said, gulping down a sob.